BHS girls fend off furious fourth quarter rally to fashion 10th win
Bartlesville High School’s Kennedy Nuble (22) concentrates on the free throw line during earlier season action. Nuble scored 16 points to help the Lady Bruins defeat Muskogee, 51-46 on January 30, 2025.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
January 31, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Many things operate on gas power.
Some others rely on electric power.
Bartlesville High School was energized mostly by Kennedy Power during girls’ basketball action Thursday in Muskogee.
Kennedy Nubel dialed in 16 points, absorbed multiple charges and added other impactful plays to an electrifying performance that helped galvanize the Lady Bruins to a 51-46 victory.
“I love coaching Kennedy,” said Bartlesville girls head coach Justyn Shaw. “I love her game and how she plays the game offensively. She’s leading us in charges. She’s been great rebounding the ball this year. When she’s aggressive on offense it makes us a better team. She’s made a great adjustment coming over from Nowata.”
Several other Lady Bruins also made high-voltage contributions in the runaway game that transformed into a white-knuckle fight in the fourth quarter.
How much of a transformation? The Lady Bruins led by 19 points, 40-21, going into the fourth period but were stunned by a Muskogee stampede in the final eight minutes.
Muskogee opened the fourth quarter with a 17-4 run to cut the Lady Bruin lead to only six points, 44-38, with a lot of time remaining.
But the Lady Bruins fended off the rally with back-to-back scoring possessions, one with a field goal by Adrianne Flick (off an assist by Sami Sheaffer) and two free throws by Sheaffer to bump the Bartlesville lead back to 10 points, 48-38.
A little later, Alayah Lunn flushed a free throw to widen the gap back to nine points, 51-42. Muskogee finished the game with a 4-0 run to narrow the final margin to five points, 51-46.
Bartlesville High School’s Kenzi Denny (12) drives the ball during earlier season action. The Lady Bruins defeated Muskogee, 51-46 on January 30, 2025.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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It was more than just your average non-district victory — the Lady Bruins improved to 10-7, securing back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since 2019.
“It’s progress,” Shaw said about the 10-win achievement. “It’s proof that our girls are improving. … The goal is always how do we get better. … It’s always going back to the drawing board before every year and decide how do we improve.”
Other than the fourth quarter tumult, Bartlesville controlled the flow of the game like Beethoven.
“Once again, I thought we did the little things well as far as sharing the ball,” and setting the right screens and movements to afford shooters optimal chances to score, Shaw said. “Defensively, we did what we wanted to coming out in the game, keeping them out of the paint and limiting them to one shot. Every one of our girls that came in contributed once again. I felt we’re just continuing to do those things more consistently.”
Bartlesville surged to a 4-0 lead — on two buckets by Nubel. Interestingly, Nubel also scored the first four points of the second quarter and the third quarter.
Thanks to a deuce by Emma Zimmerman and a triple by Lunn the Lady Bruins led by six at the end of the first quarter, 14-8.
Nubel, Sheaffer, Flick and Kenzie Denny all scored in the second quarter (Denny with a trey) to pull away, 25-10.
Emma Zimmerman’s trey in the third quarter pushed Bartlesville to its biggest lead, 37-15.
Zimmerman also hit an arc-buster to start the fourth quarter and temporarily disrupt Muskogee’s furious comeback.
But Muskogee kept closing in, despite two more Nubel buckets sandwiched around taking a charge to force a Muskogee turnover.
In the final two minutes, Sheaffer (nine points) stuck in two free throws and a bucket to help secure the win. Lunn finished with nine points and Zimmerman scored eight.
“They made their run in the fourth quarter but we weathered the storm,” said Shaw. “Muskogee is always an aggressive team. I thought we handled their pressure easily on. We still haven’t put a full 32-minute game together. I like how we started the game both offensively and defensively.”